Wade Delivers Game 3

Guard Scores 42 To Keep Heat Alive: Heat 98, Mavericks 96

Gary Payton hits his first shot of the game and only his second in the entire NBA Finals series late in the fourth quarter to give the Heat a 98-96 victory over the Mavericks in Game 3. (J. Pat Carter - AP)

MIAMI, June 13 -- Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley jokingly mocked those who considered his team dead after two dreadful games in Dallas, citing his squad's ability to postpone playoff eulogies that had begun to be written in series against Chicago, New Jersey and Detroit. The Heat again appeared to be a few steps from being buried after it lost the first two games of the NBA Finals to the Dallas Mavericks by a combined 24 points.

The shovels were being gathered, a grave spot selected, when Mavericks guard Jason Terry gave his team a 13-point midway through the fourth quarter -- an 0-3 in this best-of-seven series appeared imminent. But with Heat guard Dwyane Wade refusing to give in to foul trouble and fatigue, forward Udonis Haslem refusing to give into a bone bruise and strained left shoulder he suffered 48 hours before, Shaquille O'Neal refusing to allow his greatest weakness -- the foul line -- to derail him and point guard Gary Payton refusing to think about his horrific shooting in the previous two games, the Heat pulled out a gutsy 98-96 win at American Airlines Arena on Tuesday night.

Wade scored 12 of his playoff-high 42 points as the Heat closed out the final 6 minutes 6 seconds on a 22-7 run the Heat finally showed up for this series, which they now trail 2-1. Game 4 is Thursday. "I'm absolutely without a doubt a true believer," Riley said. "You've just got to keep trying to get them to dig, to dig."

Riley didn't have to try to hard with Wade, who appeared to shake the sinus infection that left him sluggish in Dallas and willed the Heat to victory, awakening his team from a second half slumber. Wade, who also finished with 13 rebounds picked up his fifth foul with 10:58 left in the period, but Riley refused to sit him, knowing that it likely meant an end to the season. "You know it didn't look good," Riley said. "It didn't feel good."

After Terry (16 points) gave the Mavericks an 89-76 lead, Wade scored the next five points. He later added a tough bank shot to bring the Heat within three with 3:53 remaining. After Dirk Nowitzki gave the Heat a five-point lead and the Mavericks fouled O'Neal on the other end. O'Neal, who scored 16 points, calmly stepped up and hit both free throws. "Make 'em," O'Neal, who was 4 of 6 from the foul line, said he told himself on the line. "I just went back to shooting them like I did when I was a youngster. Believe it or not, I used to be a good free throw shooter."

Haslem then stepped in front of Nowitzki and intercepted a pass from Terry, racing down the floor before Terry fouled him. Haslem missed his first four free throws, but he calmly hit both to give the Heat a 94-93 lead.

After a James Posey free throw gave the Heat a two-point lead, the Mavericks came back to tie the game at 95 when Devin Harris drove in for a layup. Then, Payton, who scored a total of two points in the first two games, gave a pump fake, stepped in and hit the decisive jumper with 9.3 seconds remaining. Dallas quickly got the ball into Nowitzki, who spun around Haslem and got fouled. Nowitzki hit the first free throw, but uncharacteristically, the 93 percent free throw shooter missed the second shot. "The basketball gods were good to us," Riley said.

"I don't believe in that," said Nowitzki, who finished with a team-high 30 points. "That's just a free throw I usually make. I don't know what happened. I just shot it a little strong."

Wade soared for the rebound, reaching back behind his head to snatch the ball. He made one of two free throws, giving Dallas another chance to tie. Then he leapt in front of Mavericks forward Josh Howard to deflect an inbounds pass as the horn sounded.

Fans threw their white seat covers into the air to celebrate, as the Heat guaranteed that this series will at least go five games, and help O'Neal avoid being swept in the Finals for the second time in his career (O'Neal's Magic was swept by Houston in 1995) and Riley for the third time in his career (Riley's Lakers were swept by Philadelphia in 1983 and Detroit in 1989). Only two teams -- the 1969 Boston Celtics and the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers -- have ever come back from a 2-0 deficit to win the Finals. Now the Heat will attempt to become the third.

The Mavericks lost for the first time this season when Howard scores at least 20 points. (He scored 21.) They outscored the Heat 34-16 in the third period, as Howard and Nowitzki combined to score 21 points on 8 of 10 shooting. The Mavericks hit 12 of their first 15 shots in the period and led 70-64 when Nowitzki sank a 19-foot jumper. Dallas continued to build on its lead with the unlikely production of Erick Dampier, who finished with 14 points and ended the scoring in the period with a reverse layup that gave the Mavericks a 77-68 lead and led the sellout crowd to boo the home team.